Population and Economy

A habitation
in Mysticora means an urban settlement of at least the size of a
small town (i.e. 500 inhabitants). Habitations are the centers of
trade, manufacturing and learning. Only here can unusual individuals
be found who have the potential to become the heroes of future legends.
The description of a habitation can be divided into several areas.
The physical structure, the population, the market, and the legislature.
Also, all habitations will have a name which cannot be changed during
the course of play.

1.1 Physical
Structure

location

map coordinates
and other specifics e.g. if on coast, on river

size

percentage
of area, shape/map

fortifications

outer defenses,
inner defenses

ruler's
residence

building
wherein the local ruler resides, see examples below. A habitation
may possess additional centers of rule but they would also be
subordinate to this one (e.g. residence of a vice-ruler, town
officials)

percentage
of population outside city walls

and therefore
same percentage of non-special buildings, population inside inner
defenses calculated implicitly through buildings

infrastructure
value

non-special
buildings value & final total

special buildings:

centers
of rule:

city/town
hall

keep
(fortification)

palace

citadel/capitolium
(fortif.)

religious
centers:

chapel/shrine

church/temple

basilica

cathredal/high
temple

learning
centers:

cloister/philosopher's
school

university/library

entertainment
centers:

theater

gymnasium

stadium

coliseum

sewers

aqueduct

mausoleum/graveyard

amphitheater/theater

public baths/therms

marketplace

small/large
harbor

bestiary/oracle/wizard's
tower

gardens

warehouses/storehouses
(note: all buildings have a storage capacity, but warehouses have
especially large capacities, usually for player use)

special manufactuaries/workshops
(needed only if either player-owned or for unusual goods, otherwise
implicit through list of goods produced (see below, production
types): mines, armories, etc.

All buildings
have a setting determining whether they are in- or outside of the
city walls or even inside the keep.

Note: the remaining
physical structure (e.g. living & working quarters for the mass
of the inhabitants) is calculated implicitly through the population
structure (see below, production capacity).

1.2 Population
Structure

The social structure
of a habitation consists of at least one (urban) population group.
Each population group has a specific people (=nation), race and
religion (=faith) and keeps its count of individuals separately.
If more than one population group lives in a habitation then this
often means that there are separate quarters inside the habitation.
Population distributions among age and social/professional classes
are given per pop. group in % (when specific individuals are extracted
or added the percentages are adapted accordingly).

age/gender classes
are:

name:

note:

children

persons
aged 0-14 years (varies depending on race), little or no effect
on population growth or production

For each people
there will be a standard distribution for the age groups and the
social/professional categories (both for urban and rural populations).
Individual pop. groups varying from the standard scheme tend to
return to the standard distributions over time. Additionally, for
each people, there will be a table assigning the various character
classes (with a fixed percentage) to the social/professionial categories.

Here is a guide
to what classes usually are assigned to which social/professional
categories (note: non-heroic professions are for economic calculations
only, and are not available as character classes, they are marked
with an '*' in the following list):

urban population
groups:

category
name

social
class

character
classes

nobles

nobles

noble,
warrior, captain (any class depending on people definition)

clerics

clerics

priest, shaman,
evil priest, warrior monk, (note: any character class may be
defined as spiritual leader of a certain religion, also note
that the availability of theses classes may depend on the religion
of the population group, in which case any percentage values
of wrong character classes are considered 0% instead)

worker*, servant*,
engineer (=blacksmith), craftsman* (other than blacksmith) (note:
these craftsmen are considered less skilled or industrious than
those from the class of burghers

slaves

serfs

worker*,
servant* (usually only present in habitations of antique cultures)

For comparison
the non-urban population is shown here too:

rural population
groups:

category:

social
class:

character
classes:

nobles

nobles

noble,
warrior, (rarely another class)

clerics

clerics

priest, shaman,
evil priest, warrior monk, (note: any character class may be
defined as spiritual leader of a certain religion, also note
that the availability of theses classes may depend on the religion
of the population group, in which case any percentage values
of wrong character classes are considered 0% instead)

freemen

freemen

peasant*, craftsman*,
hunter

serfs

serfs

peasant*,
servant*

In rural populations
the availability of character classes may be neglected for simplification,
because hero recruitment is not allowed. Therefore character class
distribution is only needed for economic & military calculations.

These are the
descriptors for an urban population group:

habitation

identifier,
determines the habitation that the pop. group belongs to

no. of
individuals

measure,
counts the size of a pop. group

people

identifier,
determines the nationality of the pop. group

race

identifier,
determines the race of the pop. group

faith

identifier,
determines the faith or religion of the pop. group

suppressed
people?

flag, in
habitations with more than one pop. group some groups may suppressed,
so that they are excluded from any offices or important positions
(i.e. they have no influence on city rule), this condition negatively
affects the morale and loyalty of this group

age group
distributions

4 percentages,
note: usually only the value for 'grown males' is changed

social/professional
category distributions

as absolute
numbers, from which the total is then calculated

morale
level

evaluative
level, describes the current mood of the population, affects productivity
factor

loyalty
level

evaluative
level, represents the longer-term attitude of the population,
in the absence of other influences the morale level will move
towards this value

tax level

percentage,
represents income tax rate, this tax is automatically collected
for the town treasury) Note: although the economic parameters
(all descriptors following the wealth values) are recorded separately
for each population group, they may be alternatively presented
in total for a habitation for ease of play

1.3 Market

Each habitation
with one or more population groups has a market (i.e. the total
of all marketplaces, fairs, and shops), at which anyone may buy
or sell tradegoods. Each market stores its own supply levels (these
are the evaluative, relative supply values for the 5 categories:
arms, food, manufactured goods, raw materials, luxury goods; the
meaning of a supply value is as follows: a value near 0 (=0%) means
that there is a total shortage of goods of that category, near 1
(=100%) means that the supply meets the demand for those goods,
a value above 1 means that there is a surplus, as multiple of demand),
which determine the price of goods. Additionally there may be a
list of goods for which there is a special demand, i.e. higher prices
will be paid. Also, there will be foreign trade routes which determine
certain goods that are imported from other regions.

tradegood list

id

item

price in shillings

weight in kg

2

food

0.5

1

3

timber

1.5

1000

4

iron

90

50

5

stone

0.1

50

6

horse

30

350

7

horse & wagon

60

600

8

cart

20

100

9

coach

300

400

12

alum

500

50

13

coal

20

50

14

copper

100

50

16

gems

20000

1

17

gold

7000

1

18

marble

500

1000

20

salt

60

50

21

semiprecious gems

500

1

22

silver

260

1

23

sulphur

500

50

24

tin

250

50

29

healing herbs

10000

1

30

arms

300

50

31

artwork/jewelry

50000

50

32

cloth

30

50

33

fine garments

800

50

34

fine arms

1000

50

35

furs

800

50

36

garments

40

50

37

incense

12000

50

38

leather

70

50

39

livestock

20

250

40

oil

40

50

41

porcelain

200

50

42

raw fiber

10

50

43

ropes

100

50

44

silk

500

50

45

spices

6000

50

46

sugar

9000

50

47

tools

150

50

48

wine

12

50

49

wool

20

50

81

beer

4

50

1.4 Legislature

1.4.1 Independence/Government
Status

Each habitation
is has a certain independence/government status, as described by
the following list of possibilities (only one per habitation):

Anarchy

Habitation
is not governed in any way, nor do the inhabitants recognize any
ruler, violence and crime are rampant, most buildings are in ruins,
there may even be monsters stalking the streets at night or in
certain sections (e.g. Thieve's Town).

Capital

Habitation
leader is autonomous and sovereign ruler of the habitation and
other lands, usually including surrounding areas. The ruler is
determined by the possession of a title (e.g. Akhen, Helecosian
& Tigalian city-states).

Local
capital

Habitation
ruler is semi-autonomous ruler of the habitation and the surrounding
region. As above, the ruler is determined by the possession of
a title. The rights of his sovereign vary regionally, and can
be very limited. The domain of the habitation ruler usually includes
the surrounding provinces and lesser habitations. The main habitations
of all medieval fiefdoms, and antique provinces are considered
to be local capitals.

Free town/city

Habitation
has semi-autonomous self-rule. The habitation ruler is always
an inhabitant and usually obeys only his sovereign (e.g. pays
taxes directly to him). The leader's rule is limited to the city
itself, not even including the area it is located in. The leader
is usually elected by a special assembly (e.g. many cities of
the Akhian empire are 'free cities', especially those who belong
to the political faction of the 'Merchant League'). The leader
may administer its own justice (i.e. player's choice of punishment)
if it has an appropriate charter, if not, the player owning the
proper overlord or king (usually ruler of surrounding area) may
do so.

Governorship

Habitat leader
is subordinate to a sovereign or feudal master, who can usually
interfere with his rule and relieve him of his office at will.
His position is largely insignificant for purposes of play, and
therefore for simplicity usually no separate title will be granted
(standard method/title will then be used instead). This is the
most widespread form of rule. All habitations not directly controlled
by sovereigns, overlords, or self-rule have this status.

1.4.2 Entering
and Leaving Restrictions

Furthermore
each habitation may have laws about entering or leaving the habitation.
The following is a list of settings determining the orders for the
gate guards (note: habitations ruled by 'anarchy' have no controls
at their gates, also there will be an additional setting for ports
determining whether in- and outgoing ships will be controlled or
not):

The gate
guards will refuse entry to known criminals, heretics,
or persons specifically expelled from this habitation for any
reason (i.e. as criminals: certainly any characters outlawed by
the habitation itself and with some probability if outlawed someplace
in the province, as heretics: characters who have been declared
as such, usually by leaders of their own faith, successful recognition
may depend on influence of religion or distance to religious leader
who declared this). This setting will almost always be set. Also,
the guards will attempt to arrest any characters who are recognized
as wanted outlaws, unless outnumbered too greatly.

Refuse
entry to anyone obviously diseased (e.g. lepers or people
carrying the plague). This setting will also almost always be
set.

Refuse
entry to any monsters (e.g. characters with an obvious supernatural
mutation, characters of a 'monster race', characters riding unusual
and threatening mounts). This setting will also almost always
be set.

Refuse
entry to 'suspicious looking' people, i.e. characters of one
of the 'criminal' classes (assassin, bandit, spy, thief, any outlawed
arcane class as determined by each nation, note: characters of
these classes won't usually be recognized as such unless they
are careless or inexperienced). This setting will also almost
always be set.

Refuse
entry to excessively armed (and armored) people. If a 'strict
arms ban' (see below, part c)) is in force the guards will not
tolerate any weapons (except a short blade) or armor (except soft
leather, or equivalent) at all. If not, an extra parameter will
determine the maximum amount of 'mediumly armed' persons (i.e.
characters and soldiers) that the guards will tolerate per entering
group. Also note that the possession of arms is not taken into
account, just what is worn openly at entry (i.e. travel mode).
This setting will usually be used in tolerant form for approximately
5 armed persons (varies with habitation size).

Refuse
entry to heathens (i.e. followers of a religion not represented
in the habitation or, in a more tolerant form, those of different
alignment (see definition of religions), note: these persons may
be hard to detect, unless they are more conspicious, e.g. they
come from a foreign country or don't speak the local language).
This setting is mostly used by xenophobic nations.

Refuse
entry to foreigners (i.e. persons of a people not represented
in the habitation), note: these persons will usually be easily
detected. This setting is mostly used by xenophobic nations.

Refuse
entry to persons of a certain race, as set by habitation ruler
(note: it is usually quite hard to disguise a character's race,
it is assumed that characters who manage to enter despite this
are able to remain undetected or tolerated for the remainder of
their stay). This setting is mostly used in regions where the
people traditionally harbor strong resentments against a certain
race.

When leaving
persons may be examined as to what tradegoods they are carrying
out be required to pay a toll on them. Habitation rulers may levy
tolls per tradegood category (food, raw materials, manufactured
goods, luxury goods). Toll rates are calculated as a percentage
(may even be above 100%) of the local value. As habitations are
glad to have goods be brought in they will not levy tolls on any
imports.

1.4.3 Inner-City
Laws

Certain basic
laws necessary for a minimum amount of order in a habitation will
be taken for granted, e.g. laws against stealing, killing, and armed
fighting. These laws will and can only be out of effect in a habitation
if it is in a state of anarchy (see above, part a)). The following
is a list of optional laws:

There is
a strict ban against weapons. The wearing (not possession!)
of any weapons (except a short blade) or armor (except soft leather,
or equivalent) is forbidden. Additionally, combat practice of
any kind is also regarded with suspicion and might cause a preemptive
arrest. Any official training grounds, such as a coliseum, may
be the only exceptions to this.

Begging
is strictly forbidden. This setting is rarely used as it is
difficult to enforce with only minor gains. It should only be
used if wishing to get rid of an excessively large poor or criminal
population.

Slavery
and serfdom are forbidden. Slave trade is forbidden. Any slave
or serf characters will not be persecuted and will be elevated
to the social class of 'freeman' after approximately a year's
stay. Nearly all so-called 'free cities' (see above, part a))
will have this law, as it encourages immigration. Note that enforcing
such a new law in habitations with large slave populations (such
as cities of antique cultures) will have disastrous effects on
the habitation's economy, and cause unrest among the privileged
classes.

Intoxicants
are banned. This applies usually to alcohol only, as other
drugs are little known. Forces closure of all taverns and similar
houses. Forbids any trading with such tradegoods. Enforcing such
a new law will usually cause strong resentment and should only
be considered if drug abuse is rampant.

Spellcasting
und using magic items is forbidden. The only exception being
if inside an official arcane guild. The greater the portion (and
influence, e.g. through official arcane guilds) of spellcasting
inhabitants (see above, urban population), the heavier the resistance
to introducing such a new law will be.

1.4.4 Exemption
List (i.e. 'Friends of the Mayor')

For each habitation
there is a list of character, groups, and political factions, which
are always exempted from the above laws, restrictions, and tolls,
as well as target of hostile actions by the habitations guards (i.e.
they have special connections to the town mayor, or even rule over
him, so that he always makes special arrangements, or even cover-ups
if necessary, for these people). A whole group qualifies for exemption,
if it is either specifically listed, or its leading character is
either specifically listed or is a member of one of the listed political
factions. A single character qualifies, if it is either currently
'inside' a qualified group, or, if alone or in an unqualified group,
it is specifically listed or belongs to one of the political factions.
If otherwise no qualification possible a character's 'pretential
political aim' will be used (unless 'pretention revealed', see heroic
system). Note that characters and groups of the player's own position
are always automatically exempted (i.e. no need for explicit listing).
At game start, most habitations will have their overlords and the
appropriate political faction in their exemption list.

The habitation
ruler may collect a head tax (i.e. a fixed amount from each inhabitant)
via special decree. This is an irregular tax and will cause more
discontent than the standard income tax.

1.4.6 Administering
Justice

The administering
of justice is simulated only for crimes initiated by players (i.e.
through characters). Otherwise, it is assumed that in normal situations
(i.e. no widespread poverty or unrest) the officials will automatically
maintain a certain level of order.

A character
may be arrested either through one of the following situations:

The habitation
ruler gives a special order. Note that this is different than
trying to 'capture' a character. An arrested character is held
prisoner while being publicly accused of a crime. A habitation
ruler who uses his guards to capture a character is actually trying
to kidnap him. He may later though bring a captured character
to trial (i.e. transform him to 'imprisoned' status) by accusing
him of a crime.

The character
is caught breaking one of the municipal laws. If a character was
noticed committing (or attempting to commit) a crime but managed
to escape, there will be a 'warrant' put out automatically him.
Thereafter, that character is in danger of being arrested and
tried anywhere in that region. There is no player order to issue
a warrant (to eliminate misuse), as such need factual justification
to be credible. For wanton arresting players may resort to an
arrest order (see above).

The character
is recognized while travelling through a region where a warrant
has been issued on him. The danger of being recognized is especially
great while entering or leaving a habitation of that region.

All violations
a character may be accused of are classified as 'major' or 'minor'
offenses. While certain crimes are quite clearly determined as one
or the other (e.g. murder is always a major offense, while evading
tolls or begging is always a minor offense). Others may depend on
certain factors (e.g. with stealing the value of goods stolen is
taken into account), usually with a certain amount chance, to determine
the seriousness. Each warrant on a character also includes the number
of his major and minor offenses. Each time a character commits new
offenses (without being caught) in a region where he already is
wanted, the number of offenses in his current warrant is increased
instead of having new warrants for the same region issued. Thus
when a character is brought to trial he may have to account for
a whole series of crimes (note that warrants of foreign regions
are ignored). When a habitation ruler wantonly arrests a character
he must choose the type of offense (i.e. whether major or minor)
he will (falsely?) accuse him of. If not sufficiently founded (e.g.
character is revealed to have forbidden goods, be of a criminal
character class, serve a enemy nation, etc.; note that because torture
is commonly used a character may be forced to reveal any incriminating
facts) such acts may cause popular discontent.

Nonetheless,
as this judicial system is rarely interested in objectively determining
the innocence of the accused (this is an achievement of modern times),
almost all characters being tried will receive some form of sentence.
This will be done either automatically or through player orders,
as determined by the settings of the habitation.

For each habitation
there is a setting that enables the automatic judging of criminals.
Any characters will be automatically tried and punished (i.e. by
the local judge) on the day following their arrest according to
the gravity of their crimes. If a player wishes to disable this
setting he must hold the legal charter to the habitation. Possession
of the legal charter is also necessary to manually select the form
of punishment (note that the legal charter to habitation may be
held by a player other than the owner!) and is usually bound to
the possession of a title (e.g. usually the local overlord or sovereign,
free cities often hold their own legal charter). In habitations
where the automatic judging is disabled the controling player may
postpone the trial indefinitely.

Selection of
the type of punishment is somewhat random, with following table
giving a rough guidline:

major
offense:

execution

mutilation

flogging

either:

infliction
of brand mark

expulsion
& confiscation

expulsion

duel
or ordeal

minor
offense:

fine

public humiliation

warning
(= no punishment)

Note: execution
also includes confiscation of convicted's property

Note: evaluation
of crimes and selection varies with cultures, especially the barbarian
culture has unusual rules, e.g. allowing fines as retribution for
murder, in medieval & barbarian lands the accused may be allowed
to prove his innocence in a duel or ordeal)

2. Rural estates

In contrast
to habitations rural settlements are not as clearly delimited to
their surroundings. A typical rural estate would consist of a conglomeration
of hamlets, villages and even small towns together with the surrounding
countryside and its isolated dwellers. The local lord would rule
from a manor, castle or even a monastery.

2.1 Physical
Structure

Size

the percentage
of the area claimed (and held) by the estate holder, in areas
without competing estates or habitations this value will be at
100%.

Ruler's
residence

building
wherein the local ruler resides, common are villas (anitiquitiy)
or castles (medieval).

No. of
villages

gives a general
idea how the population is distributed inside the estate, if there
are no villages then the population is widely dispersed. Also,
this implies certain standard structures (e.g. a village usually
has a church).

Infrastructure
value

represents
amount and quality of economically relevant local structures such
as mills, barns, bridges, local roads, etc. This value may be
lowered by destruction or neglect, and may be increased by building
programs. If no infrastructure is present at all (happens only
by destruction) production with be down due to lack of equipment
(i.e. no trade) or a large amount of the produce will be assumed
lost (e.g due to lack of storage space and transport capacity),
so that the factor would then assume its minimum value. In the
absence of calamities the population will try to build up a basic
infrastructure by themselves, even in primitive cultures, so that
no substantial amount of food is lost. In such a case the factor
would have a value near 0.9. In more advanced societies certain
technologies may permit a higher value (or allow a higher value
to be reached more easily). As a general rule though, the higher
the value already is (especially if above 1.0) the greater the
effort must be to increase it further.

Special
buildings

any additional
buildings owned by the estate ruler. Theoretically, any of the
urban special buildings may be included in a rural estate, usually
though this would mean special production facilities used by players
(e.g. mines, armories), or additional, smaller fortifications
(e.g. towers). Note that this does not include special locations
such as monster lairs, lost temples, dungeons, etc. The criteria
for ownership of special buildings is namely actual control and
usage, which not the case for such, as they are apparently worthless
or contain hostile dwellers. By this rule, even though an estate
holder may claim 100% of the area it may contain any number of
'foreign' buildings by other players, as long he does not force
them away.

Special
produce

each estate
may produce a single type of good in addition to 'food'. The type
of this good is set by the scenario and may not be changed during
the course of a game (since it is based upon traditional expertise
and local availability of resources) but you may set the percentage
of effort that goes into producing this good instead of producing
food. If it an agricultural product, the amount produce will vary
together with food production with seasonal influences and the
like, otherwise it will remain constant.

2.2 Population

For the sake
of simplicity, the population of each estate will be considered
homogenous (i.e. same race, nation, and religion) and therefore
contain only a single population group. Players wanting to settle
in different population in an area would have to create a new estate.

These are the
descriptors for an rural population group:

no. of
individuals

(measure,
counts the size of a pop. group)

people

(identifier,
determines the nationality of the pop. group)

race

(identifier,
determines the race of the pop. group)

faith

(identifier,
determines the faith or religion of the pop. group)

age group
distributions

(4 percentages,
note: usually only the value for 'grown males' is changed)

social/professional
category distributions

(4 percentages,
see above, 1.2)

wealth
values

(wealth
value for each inhabitant category (see above), denotes the average
amount of wealth (in the form of cash, goods, & real estate,
using a standard distribution per social class) that each person
owns, the wealth of the ruling class (usually nobles or clerics)
is automatically owned by the estate ruler (i.e. head of family)
and may thus be at the free disposition of a player)

income
values

(same as
wealth values, denotes avg. income per day, mostly in the form
of cash, nobles usually have no own income (i.e. they live from
taxes), the total of the incomes determines the gross domestic
productwhich is the basis for the calculation of the taxes,
for peasant populations this value changes with the seasonal productivity
value)

morale
level

(evaluative
level, describes the current mood of the population, affects productivity
factor)

loyalty
level

(evaluative
level, represents the longer-term attitude of the population,
in the absence of other influences the morale level will move
towards this value)

tax level

(percentage,
represents income tax rate (i.e. percentage of gross domestic
product), this tax is automatically collected for the estate ruler);
the tax may either be delivered as produce or in coin. In the
latter case the peasants need to sell their goods at nearby markets
first, which may often decrease the net value of taxes collected.

supply
levels

(these are
the evaluative, relative supply values for the 5 categories: arms,
food, manufactured goods, raw materials, luxury goods; the
meaning of a supply value is as follows: a value near 0 means
that there is a total shortage of goods of that category, near
1 means that the supply meets the demand for those goods, a value
above 1 means that there is a surplus, as multiple of demand)

relative
food base

(determines
the available agricultural facilities per farming manpower unit
(per harvest!, see below, part f)) under basic conditions (i.e.
primitive farming/herding, see above, part c)), and represents
for one part the organic basis to produce food (e.g. herd animals,
seed) and for the other part other necessities (e.g. cleared land,
tools). A value below 1 means that there is not enough land or
facilities for each farmer and the excess manpower will be used
to slowly build up the food base (if there is remaining capacity
in the area), a value above 1 (usually due to population reduction)
means that there are excess facilities, which deteriorate though
through neglect. A part of each year's harvest must be withheld
to maintain (or increase) the food base. It can be used for immediate
consumption (e.g. during a famine or by pillaging armies) albeit
with disastrous effects for the coming harvest. The amount of
food scavenged this way varies with seasonal productivity (see
below) and is only a portion of the basic food base value (the
other part of the food base is assumed to be lost through neglect
or destruction).

3. Production and Consumption

Important Note: All production,
consumption and tax collection occurs automatically. You do not need to order an
estate or habitation to start production, they just always do that.

3.1 Rural production

For the sake
of simplification, all agricultural products will only be produced
in rural populations. For specific calculation the following parameters
are used:

Farming
manpower in population group (calculated from rural populations,
see 2.1.b), as number of adult peasants, members of other age/gender
groups may be added with a reduction factor (children & elderly
50%).

Infrastructure
factor (per estate), represents amount and quality of economically
relevant local structures such as mills, barns, bridges, local
roads, etc. This value may be lowered by destruction or neglect,
and may be increased by building programs. If no infrastructure
is present at all (happens only by destruction) production with
be down due to lack of equipment (i.e. no trade) or a large amount
of the produce will be assumed lost (e.g due to lack of storage
space and transport capacity), so that the factor would then assume
its minimum value (=0.75). In the absence of calamities the population
will try to build up a basic infrastructure by themselves, even
in primitive cultures, so that no substantial amount of food is
lost. In such a case the factor would have a value near 0.9. In
more advanced societies certain technologies may permit a higher
value (or allow a higher value to be reached more easily). As
a general rule though, the higher the value already is (especially
if above 1.0) the greater the effort must be to increase it further.

Cultural
productivity factor (per nation & region), as determined
by advancements of people (=nation) plus any additonal regional
advancements, this represents the excess amount of food each peasant
can produce (and thus be taxed away!) through advanced farming
methods and equipment (i.e. product of increased yield per
acre and increased no. of acres that can be farmed
per peasant). This value can at its lowest equal 1/(climate zone
productivity) (see below, this means then primitive subsistence
farming/herding) and at its best be around 1.5 (late medieval
farming). This factor only changes through the acquisition (and
loss) of advancements.

Relative
food base (per rural pop. group), determines the available
agricultural facilities per farming manpower unit (see part a))
(per harvest!, see below, part f)) under basic conditions (i.e.
primitive farming/herding, see above, part c)), and represents
for one part the organic basis to produce food (e.g. herd animals,
seed) and for the other part other necessities (e.g. cleared land,
tools). A part of each year's harvest must be withheld to maintain
(or increase) the food base. It can be used for immediate consumption
(e.g. during a famine or by pillaging armies) albeit with disastrous
effects for the coming harvest. The amount of food scavenged this
way varies with seasonal productivity (see below) and is only
a portion of the basic food base value (the other part of the
food base is assumed to be lost through neglect or destruction).
The effective food base is the portion of the food base
that the peasants actually have enough manpower to farm (i.e.
min(food base, manpower * increased no. of acres)). If the food
base is larger than the modified manpower it will gradually sink
to that value (e.g. uncultivated lands will turn into wilderness).
On the other hand if there is too much manpower available it will
go unused, but here again the food base will increase until it
reaches the modified manpower value (i.e. land is cleared).

Fertility
value (per area), represents the maximum size of the food
base under basic conditions (i.e. primitive farming/herding).
This incorporates such factors as soil quality, local weather,
water sources, etc. The effective maximum food base though is
this value multiplied with the increased yield per area (part
of cultural productivity factor).

Weather
factor (per area), gives an assessment, relative to the average
local weather, on how good the weather has recently been here,
values above 1.0 mean good weather and under 1.0 mean bad weather.
Unusually bad weather which destroys growing crops will also have
the effect of reducing the current food base (see above).

Seasonal
productivity (per climate zone), the seasonal food production
varies with climate zones, due to different harvest times. Therefore
the following table is used to determine the seasonal productivity
factor:

monthly
growth factors

climate
zone name

#harvests

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

North
Polar

0.75

0.25

0.5

1

1.5

1.5

1.5

1

0.75

0.25

0.25

0.25

0.25

North
Temperate

1

0.25

0.5

1

2

2

2

2

1

0.5

0.25

0.25

0.25

North
Mediterranean

1.25

0,5

1

2

2

1.5

1.5

2

2

1

0.5

0.5

0.5

North
Subtropical

1.5

1

1

2

2

2

1

1

1

2

2

2

1

Tropical

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

Note: the #harvests-column
gives the average value, but also represents the approximate number
of harvests possible in the given climate zone, i.e. the amount
of biomass which can be produced per year due to the length of the
growing season (exc.: the inhabitants of the polar zones mainly
live from herding and hunting, thus the change of factors represents
the cycles of activity, not harvests). Note that unless productivity
(due to cultural factors) in the more fruitful zones is high enough
it will not be possible to effectively produce more food there.

Note: Fishing
villages receive about half their food from the sea and are therefore
to one half independent of climactic and weather values and the
food base maximum (fertility value).

The above parameters
are be combined in certain ways to give certain information about
the current supply situation in the area. The effective support
value is the approximate (i.e. excluding weather & infrastructure
factors) number of people that the area can support. This value
is calculated by multiplying the effective food base with the yield
per acre and the seasonal average (see parts c,g)).

The different
supply situations are categorized as follows:

An area is
underpopulated if the modified manpower is lower than the
effective food base maximum (i.e. there is room for population
growth)

An area is
optimally populated if the modified manpower equals the
effective food base maximum (i.e. all arable land is being used
and no peasants are idle, excess food amount is maximized)

An area is
maximumly populated if the size of the population equals
the amount of food it produces (i.e. no excess food available).

An area is
overpopulated if there is more population than food that
can be produced.